This invention relates generally to a protection and cleaning device for information storage and retrieval devices heads, such as floppy disk drives, hard disk drives, compact disk drive units, and the like. More particularly, this invention relates to a non-rotational air filtering, head cleaning, and head cushioning device for a disk drive comprising a member and rigid support structure adapted to allow insertion of the device into a disk drive.
The heads of disk drives accumulate dust particles and debris from the surface of the disks they read. The heads may also adsorb and become coated with contamination that evaporates from the surface of the storage media. If the heads are not cleaned, data transferred to or from the disk may be transferred incorrectly or not at all. Therefore, to ensure reliable operation, the disk drive heads require periodic cleaning.
Airborne dust particles also accumulate on components within disk drives and computers. Exacerbating the problem, many computers require air to be drawn through the drive into the computer to keep the components cool. If the air is not filtered these particles can deleteriously affect mechanical, electrical, and heat transfer properties of the components.
Finally, in today's age of portable computers, disk drives are often subjected to rugged conditions. The heads of disk can be damaged when a disk drive is moved and the cardboard inserts originally shipped with many drives do not provide adequate cushion for the sensitive heads. It would be advantageous to not only protect the heads from contamination, but to cushion them as well.
Devices have thus been developed to clean the heads, although no air filtration means or cushioning is provided. One form of cleaning device for disk drives known in the prior art is a round, fibrous cleaning disc which is mounted for rotatable movement within a square jacket shaped similarly to a jacket housing a data disk. A cleaning solution may be applied through openings in the surface of the jacket prior to insertion of the cleaning tool into a disk drive. After insertion, the computer is activated so that the drive spindle engages and then rotates the cleaning disk across the heads. A disadvantage of this type of cleaning device is that the cleaning disk, because it rotates in the same direction as the data disk, does little more than remove and then redeposit the contaminants and debris on the leading edge of the heads. The heads, therefore, are not effectively cleaned.
Also disadvantageous is that the same peripheral area of the cleaning disk is reused for each new cleaning operation which results in redeposition of the contaminants removed in a previous cleaning onto the heads. Further, the abrasive friction from the spinning disk can cause wear on the surface of the heads and the flexible jacket portion of such cleaning devices has a tendency to buckle and jam when it is inserted into or released from the disk drive. No means for air filtration or cushioning is provided.
Cleaning devices employing a reciprocating motion also are known. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,622,617, Fritsch teaches a cleaning device that uses an automatic spring and cam system, or a manual spring and lever system, housed within a jacket to move the cleaning material across the heads in a reciprocating motion. U.S. Pat. No. 4,663,686 issued to Freeman et al. teaches a cleaning device with a lever, a spring, and rotatable wiper assembly in a jacket. The cleaning surface is manually rotated back and forth within the jacket across the heads. These cleaning devices have several internal moving parts which may fail or require maintenance. Like other prior art, no means for air filtration or cushioning is provided.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,868,700 issued to Fritsch shows a non-rotational plate member with a surface mounted cleaning fabric. Upon insertion, the drive spindle of the computer engages a rotating annular disk of the cleaning device, simulating a rotating data disk, to indicate to the computer that a disk is present. Subsequent execution of a previously stored computer program then causes the heads to move backwards and forwards over the stationary cleaning surface. Use of this device requires that the computer be turned on and a compatible software program already be stored in the computer's memory. The computer may not be able to load the program if the drive is failing because its heads are dirty. Again, no means for air filtration or cushioning is provided.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,235,485 issued to Martin discloses a paddle-shaped device for manually cleaning the heads of a disk drive. The device is made of hard plastic with a small strip of fibrous material attached along a radius of the disk at the disk's read position. The disk is manually moved longitudinally back and forth to clean the heads. This device is not constructed of air-filtering material and it is not designed to be left in a disk drive to cushion and protect the heads when the drive is not in use.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,223,006 to Moran, III discloses an air cleaner box for a computer. The entire computer is placed within the box and an electronic or other type of air cleaner removes airborne particles before they reach the computer within the enclosure. This device is necessarily large enough to contain an entire computer within it and it restricts access to disk drives, buttons, and other items attached to the computer. The device is not capable of cleaning the heads.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention is to provide an improved device for cleaning the heads of a disk drive. Another object of the present invention is to provide a device for cushioning the heads of and filtering the air of a disk drive. A further object of the present invention is to provide a device that automatically cleans the heads of a disk drive each time the disk is inserted, without requiring the use of a previously loaded computer program. A still further object of the present invention is to provide a non-rotational device that cleans the heads of a disk drive in the direction of normal head motion. A still further object of the present invention is to provide a disk drive head cleaning device that has no moving parts.